Most people who swing over the top have too weak of a grip in one or both hands. This fundamental problem causes the clubface to open. As a result, the student must swing left to hit a playable shot, but this left-to-right ball flight comes at a price—loss of distance. Unfortunately, most students self-diagnose their swing as over the top and try to fix the path.

They say in life you can only count on two things, death and taxes. Well, an addendum to that statement might be the heat and humidity of Florida in July. As I walked onto the tee box of the final hole, I started feeling somewhat faint. I was playing well, but the combination of heat, adrenaline and nerves were starting to take their toll. As I look back on that day now, with a touch of silver and recession in my hairline, I realize that mentally I was carrying an extra load from the excessive heat, one that led to confusion and uncertainty.

Whether you are learning to hold the club for the first time, improving your full swing or trying to play on the PGA TOUR, the first step in the learning process is a lesson from a PGA Teaching Professional. Self-help or trial and error rarely work over the longhaul. This is the reason why TOUR players have coaches. Signing up for the lesson is the first step.

Normally, my nerves after playing the first hole are but a vast memory, but not that day. The accelerated walk with my caddie to the next hole led to an unexpected wait, and the teacher in me started taking over. “What happened to the swing that was on the driving range?” I thought to myself. After a wait of more than 10 minutes on the par-3 second hole, and a quick swing critique, I hit a horrible iron shot and made double bogey. I then followed up with another bogey, and my pre-round confidence had turned into a mental golf clinic, with yours truly as both student and coach. I was now three over par.

I have come to realize that all players of all levels struggle with the short putt at some point in their playing career, when participants huddle around the green, and the money is on the line. In many cases, the short putt has ruined the careers of TOUR professionals and led some to quit the game altogether. This missed opportunity is simply referred to as the “yip.”

So what happens when you hit a ball into the trees, and you have a limited backswing? Or you bury a ball under the lip of a bunker? These adventures are the realities of the game, and the decision, not the next shot, is what separates the great players from the average weekend golfer. It is not always their ability to pull off the miraculous shot; it is their ability to process the information and make a good decision first, before executing their next shot.